30 May 2008, Yokohama - As TICAD IV draws to a close, the central recurring theme is a demand for leadership and a call to action – both from Japan and from African governments. Civil society reiterates this demand for urgent action and accountability to the commitments that will contribute to addressing poverty in Africa. The doubling of aid to Africa is a welcome step in the right direction. However, Japan’s overall commitment falls short of expectations. A commitment to 0.7% is an imperative that Japan must not shy away from if it is to provide the leadership to the rest of the G8 delivering on their unrealised promises in Toyako in July.
The looming food catastrophe for Africa demands urgent immediate actions as well as long-term measures. This must include immediate measures to relieve pressures on poor people as well as meeting commitments to aid and trade reform that structurally address the underlying causes, including and end to speculative commodity trading and the mitigating the dominance of large-scale agribusinesses in the value chain. Without these actions, we risk conflict, loss of life, and rolling back the development gains that TICAD IV builds on.
“The focus on economic growth must be driven by a poverty-reduction agenda, underpinned by concrete actions that deliver the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015” said Toko Tomita of Japan’s TICAD IV NGO Network (TNnet).
Growth without social justice and equity is not sustainable. Too many people, especially women and girls, remain poor, vulnerable and excluded. TICAD IV must commit to engage not only the technical issues but also on the importance of delivering for the poor, ensuring political will and being open to accountability. The focus of infrastructure development must put real local needs and intra-regional development at its heart.
Human dignity, peace, good governance and democracy are the corner stones upon which the TICAD IV Action Plan must sit. Democracy and Human security are central to building on the fragile peace in the African continent. This is necessary to deliver both poverty reduction and growth. Moving Africa from ‘charity and aid’ to ‘trade and development’ requires a new partnership model that is founded on a commitment to end absolute poverty and build accountability through equitable, participatory and democratic governance systems at national as well as international levels.
On Climate Change, civil society calls for an approach built on equity and justice. Polluting countries must step up to address the impact of their emissions. Japan, through TICAD IV, must lead on setting high mid-term targets on emissions if it is to provide leadership to other developed countries and make Cool Earth a reality. Without this, efforts on adaptation are doomed to failure. New and additional resources (over and above existing ODA commitments) must be provided. As a proportion of the huge commitment announced at TICAD IV by Japan, its contribution to adaptation in Africa is very small, disappointing and falls well short of what is required. Civil society says “NO” to loans for adaptation as these simply punish poor people twice. We call for support to the UN Adaptation Fund, and not another donor-driven mechanism, to ensure full participation of affected countries.
Africa has made significant progress on poverty and growth, but this is not enough. African governments must deliver on their commitments at TICAD IV with a common vision of an Africa that is free from absolute poverty and achieving the MDGs. Concerted action at continental level, through AU and its mechanisms, is imperative. African governments must commit to action at the AU Summit in June to build on the opportunities created by TICAD IV. A balance must also be struck by African states on delivering on human rights and social justice as well as creating an enabling environment for markets. African states must provide vision and leadership to that Public-Private partnerships deliver for the poor.
“Japan and African governments must make true their commitment for civil society participation through a clear and institutionalised role in the TICAD VI follow-up mechanism. Embracing civil society participation is at the core of strengthening accountability of the TICAD IV process”. concluded Gustave Assah of Civic Commission for Africa.
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For more information, contact:
Minori Tanimura: +81-(0)90-6537－8098 on behalf of:
TICAD IV NGO Network
c/o Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University, Rm 613-6
1-21-1, 7F Soudainishiwaseda, Bldg.
Nishiwaseda, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Masaki Inaba: +81-(0)90-1264-8110 on behalf of:
2008 G8 Summit NGO Forum
c/o Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation (JANIC)
Avaco bldg. 5F, 2-3-8 Nishiwaseda, Shinkuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan